Transforming Schools with Technology: What Leaders Need to Do

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Transforming Schools with TechnologyWhat
Leaders Need to Do!

• Andy ZuckerThe Concord Consortium
• CoSN Annual Conference, March 2008

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Houston,We Have a Problem!A Communication
Problem with Policymakers and the Public
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Many Skeptical Books

• The Flickering Mind The False Promise of
  Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can
  be Saved (2003)
• Oversold and Underused Computers in the
  Classroom (2001)
• Why Computers Dont Belong in the Classroom and
  Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian (1999)
• Failure to Connect (1998)

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Skeptics Tough Views

• In the realm of education, technology is like a
  vineits gorgeous at first bloom but quickly
  overgrows, gradually altering and choking its
  surroundings. Todd Oppenheimer
• Without a broader vision of the social and civic
  role that schools perform in a democratic
  society, our current excessive focus on
  technology use in schools runs the danger of
  trivializing our nations core ideals. Larry
  Cuban

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A Skeptic at MITs Media Lab

• Yes, the Internet is wonderful. Yes, state-run
  school systems require fundamental reform.
  Nevertheless, the shrewdest policy to improve
  public education while saving billions in
  government spending demands abstinence. Keep
  computers out of the classroom.
• Michael Schrage, Financial Times, 2006

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We Must Fight the Conventional Wisdom About
Schools

• Schools are immoveable objects
• They are mired in the 19th century
• Nothing changes

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Utopian Views are no Better
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Utopian Expectations(e.g, Seymour Papert)

• There wont be schools in the future. I think
  the computer will blow up the school. That is,
  the school defined as something where there are
  classes, teachers running exams, people
  structured in groups by age, following a
  curriculumall of that.
• Nothing is more ridiculous than the idea that
  this technology can be used to improve school.

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Nicholas Negroponte

• The XO laptop is probably the only hope. I
  dont want to place too much on OLPC One Laptop
  Per Child, but if I really had to look at how to
  eliminate poverty, create peace, and work on the
  environment, I can't think of a better way to do
  it. (http//www.youtube.com/watch?vo97UD78s6iM,
  11/07)

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Leaders Communicate a Compelling Vision

• We need to get the story right to be persuasive
• The skeptics are wrong
• And, the utopians are wrong

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Reality Schools Have Changed

• In 10 years, more than half the states have
  created their own online high schools
• Millions of state and district tests have been
  administered via computer
• Websites allowing parents to access information
  about their students have millions of hits
• About half of all h.s. science teachers use
  probes connected to computers
• Calculators are allowed on many high-stakes tests
• Maine, Pennsylvania, and hundreds of schools and
  districts provide all students with laptops
• Kentucky has an online guidance system that
  begins to be an individualized education plan
  for all students

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Todays Goals

• Understand the importance of six key education
  goals, and the use of digital tools to reach all
  these goals
• Use that information to become more persuasive

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Six Key Education Goals

• Increase student achievement
• Make schools more relevant and engaging to
  students (and reduce dropout rates)
• Provide a high quality education for all students
  
• Attract, prepare, and retain high quality
  teachers
• Increase home and community support for children,
  by parents and others
• Require schools accountability for results

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Increase Student Achievement

• Civics and current events
• Writing with computers
• Probes and probeware
• Calculators
• Simulations and models
• Online schools increase achievement in courses
  not otherwise available
• Mastering Physics (college level)

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Make Schools more Relevant and Engaging (Reduce
Dropout Rates)

• 11 laptop programs
• Blogs and social networks
• Educational games
• Cisco networking academies

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Provide a High Quality Education for All Students

• It was my most needy students who benefited the
  most from laptops
• Teacher in rural Maine
• Text-to-speech translations enlarging text
  graphics etc.
• Websites for ELL, for special ed, gifted students
• Assistive technologies
• Bridging the digital divide
• Universal Design for Learning

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Attract, Prepare, and Retain High Quality Teachers

• State sites (e.g., MASSONE)
• Teacher professional communities
• Professional development
• Mentoring (e.g., eMentoring for Student Success)
• Teachers need better instructional and
  administrative tools
• E.g., test administration, record-keeping

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Increase Support for Children, by Parents and
Others

• Homework sites
• Information about schools
• Maine every student can register for a free
  online SAT prep course
• Career guidance services online
• After-school programs to teach computer skills

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Require Accountability for Results

• Computer-based testing/assessment
• Clickers. Summary Street. Assistments.
• Data-driven decision making
• State data systems
• Data Quality Campaign

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Key Points

• Schools are not a business with a single bottom
  line (e.g., a test score)
• Education is a system aimed at multiple,
  sometimes conflicting goals
• Technology helps us meet all six goals

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Transforming Organizations Requires

• People and
• Processes and
• Technology
• The greatest need in schools is to make them
  intellectually challenging for more students

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Conclusion

• Computers, the Internet and other digital tools
  are helping schools achieve six key goals, and
  using them in smart ways will be necessary, but
  not sufficient, to transform schools into more
  modern, responsive, effective institutions

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Transforming Schools with Technology How Smart
Use of Digital Tools Helps Achieve Six Key
Education Goals
Harvard Education Press, 2008 http//www.hepg.org/
hep/Book/78
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The End